1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of general purpose shopping bags or containers of the kind capable of holding a variety of products and suited structurally to replace the shopping bag traditionally made of paper or other natural fiber For shopping bags of the handle type, the present invention teaches a handle cut and applied to the mouth of the bag in an improved and simplified manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Paper bags and other conventional commercial bags made of natural fibers or sheets are generally manufactured by a series of cutting, measuring, folding and sealing operations capable of producing large numbers of bags on automatic machinery. Such bags are routinely used in daily business transactions on such a scale that the magnitude of their number cannot accurately be measured. It is commonly known that bags made of paper or other light natural fibers and presently being constructed are unable to tolerate without incurring damage the punishment inflicted by contents having sharp edges and corners. Such articles frequently pierce or otherwise perforate the enclosing surfaces of the bag. The bottom or closed ends of these bags are also found to be inherently faulty in that they lack sufficient strength to contain articles whose combined weight approaches design limits. Generally recognized also by the industry is the fact that wholesale disposal of paper bags by consumers, usually following only a single transaction, is a common occurrence. A steady production cycle of replacement units is thus guaranteed by such wasteful practices. New production lots are destined as their predecessors to experience a brief commercial existence terminating in a final trip to the residential trash or garbage receptacle.
The manufacture of conventionally made bags produced by machines in which a sheet of paper from a stock roll ends up as a finished bag has thus provoked public awareness and concern over environmental issues. Conservative estimates show that discarded paper products represent approximately 48% of all material deposited in landfill operations. Changes in the everyday shopping lifestyle of the average consumer will become necessary if the reduction of the world's natural resources is to be reversed. The annual destruction in this country alone of over one and one quarter billion trees to supply raw material for paper bags deserves the unlimited attention of any shopper habitually relying on a steady supply of commercial paper bags. The reusable cloth grocery bag of the present invention and its method of manufacture offers a solution partially if not wholly in satisfaction of environmental issues affected by current manufacturing processes. An improved handle more durable and comfortable to use than handles for bags heretofore used is intended to improve the longevity of the bag according to the present invention.
Patents which pertain to the art of shopping bags exist in large numbers. Several of the more pertinent patents are discussed immediately below.
One example of a bag and a method of making it is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,985,355. The patent teaches a method of making a bag from a planar web of paper cut into bag blanks as it passes through a machine, to provide, among other things, a bag which is siftless.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,062,392 shows dual purpose handles alternatively useable according to the whim of the carrier and this forms a distinctive feature of the bag described in this patent.
Another manufacture of a paper bag is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,021,767. The disclosure therein is directed essentially to a method for providing a cuff which serves primarily to reinforce the open end of the bag.
One other construction is the collapsible shopping bag shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,325,853 whose important feature relies on the use, around the mouth of the bag and at the bottom, of stiff pieces of cardboard. The strips at the mouth of the bag tend to hold the mouth open approximately square and the stiffeners at the bottom urge the side walls apart and also provide a flat base.
The handle for carrier bags which is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,955,740 comprises a flat strip of foldable material, such as paper, divided longitudinally along an extendable center line which divides the strip into two portions each half the width of the strip. The two portions after having been folded into the same plane form the grip portion of the handle. A drawback of this form of construction is the weakness or thinness of a bi-fold panel the portions of which are not stitched or otherwise fastened to each other.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,603,408 to Crary teaches a shopping bag with a U-shaped handle or strip formed of paper folded edgewise upon itself a plurality of times throughout its entire length. The multiple ply paper strap of the form shown in the Crary patent is adopted for manufacture of handles for paper bags. No means is taught for securing the folds of paper relative to each other, in the form of stitching, for example, and the patent excludes the use of additional adhesive between the folded edge portion for accomplishing this purpose.
The handle manufacturing method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,529,976 obtains a multiply-folded length of paper on lines which are parallel with the edges of the strip. At each fold, the strip is coated with a suitable paste and each handle is folded in three parts so that a cross piece is s obtained. A piece of suitably rigid material is inserted in the cross piece. An imperfection in this form of construction is that the handle grip is susceptible to breakdown of the adhesive and becomes tacky when grasped by the moistened surface of the palm.
Although generally satisfactory results can be expected from the above-exemplary articles and methods, their main purpose is to improve one or more separate characteristics or features in that class of articles known as shopping bags. Their general focus upon paper as the base material used in manufacture and their concentration on limited development of only one segment of paper bags is detrimental to a vital concern over environmental issues which should be reflected in all phases of the manufacturing process.